Melvin McCoy, a veteran, looks at his daughter Sbella McCoy ,4, in their Laguna Commons apartment. McCoy and his family spent time in various homeless shelters before finding housing at Laguna Commons .

Creating homes for the homeless

Donations will help Abode Services provide supplies and services for formerly homeless veterans

At 64, Melvin McCoy has navigated rough stretches through drug addiction and a broken marriage.

But he provided a roof for his family, and even ran a church homeless shelter for more than a decade.

Last year, however, the tight Bay Area housing market and loss of church property in Stockton put McCoy and his family — a partner and four children — on the streets.

“I had nowhere to go,” McCoy said.

The Navy veteran and his family found shelter through Abode Services.

The 30-year-old non-profit, based in Fremont, annually finds housing for thousands of Bay Area residents as it seeks to end homelessness.

It’s a tall task. A biennial federal survey, known as the Point-in-Time census, released this year showed marked increases in homelessness across the region.

Homelessness in Alameda County jumped nearly 40 percent since 2015, with 5,600 people lacking shelter. Homeless populations in Santa Clara County grew 13 percent, to 7,400, and in San Jose grew 7 percent, to 4,350.

Aric crabb/Bay area news group

McCoy relaxes in his apartment.

Abode helped more than 4,800 Bay Area residents find housing last year. On a typical night, the organization houses about 2,100 people. It offers shelter and social service programs in Alameda, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Santa Cruz and Napa counties.

Most of its funding comes from government sources.The agency is seeking $20,000 in Wishbook donations to cover supplies and services for impoverished families. A donation of $150 buys a week of groceries for a family; a $1,500 gift makes a security deposit on an apartment.

Executive Director Louis Chicoine said the public partnerships keep the nonprofit lean and focused on practical solutions to enduring problems. “In the Bay Area,” he said, “you have to build projects.”

Abode opened Laguna Commons in Fremont last year, offering 64 apartments for low and modest income families. The modern four-story complex provides shelter and services for the formerly homeless and families in extreme poverty. Residents pay a percentage of their income, however meager, for rent.

The organization is building another project in San Jose, called Vermont House. Scheduled to open this year, it has 16 single-room occupancy units dedicated to homeless vets.

Laguna Commons has 25 units set aside for those with military service.

McCoy is one of those vets, spending six years on active and reserve duty as a supply clerk in the Navy. He joined the sea service in the early ’70s, stationed aboard the aircraft carrier Enterprise. During his two years of active duty, he said, he picked up a heroin habit while making port calls in Asia.

“I didn’t know I was hooked,” he said.

ARIC CRABB/BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

McCoy spent six years on active and reserve duty in the Navy.

McCoy returned to Stockton, started a family but sank lower into addiction. He hid his habit from his family, one time heating a butter knife over a flame, then scorching over the needle marks in his arm. McCoy still bears the scar. He’s been clean from cocaine and heroin since 1991.

Until August, he shared a studio apartment with five others, including his three school-aged children. McCoy connected with Abode through a subsidized housing program for veterans run by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Abode placed McCoy and his family in Laguna Commons and helped furnish the apartment.

McCoy said his children like their new home and have adapted to Fremont schools. He’s been able to watch the children and attend school functions while his partner, Alicia Camacho, works at Rite Aid.

Without Abode and other service providers, he said, “I don’t know where we’d be right now.”

HOW TO HELP

Donations will help Abode Services provide supplies and services — such as groceries, furniture or security deposits — for formerly homeless veterans as they seek and maintain housing. Goal: $20,000